Day's done

stockwell day may have averteda messy courtroom showdown with lawyer and school board trustee Lorne Goddard, but folks in Alberta are pretty steamed at having to pick up the Alliance leader's undisclosed settlement and legal expenses."It disgusts me," says Red Deer highschool teacher and local Day-watcher Darren Lund. "It makes me sick that (public money) has been spent on this because of one politician who cannot keep his mouth shut."

Goddard, of course, sued Day for $600,000 after the former Alberta treasurer suggested the local lawyer and 20-year public school board trustee shared the views of a pedophile he was representing at trial.

After being adjourned for the election, the case was finally scheduled to be heard in court this month. Day's legal expenses were picked up entirely by the province since Day was supposedly acting as an MLA when he wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate slamming Goddard.

The opposition Liberals in Alberta are demanding that the Ralph Klein government reveal the total cost to taxpayers of Day's defence and settlement and want the Tories to get a judicial ruling on whether it's appropriate for taxpayers to foot the bill.